A spiritual successor to the iconic Porsche 959 has been rumoured for a while now.

Here we have new details/rumours about the Ferrari 458 Italia rivalling model that could be called 988. According to Autocar, the 988 will ride on a new modular platform that will be used also for all their sports cars from the next-generation Boxster/Cayman all the way to the top of the range 988.

The new modular platform is good for both mid- and rear-mounted engines, meaning the next 911 will also use this new flexible architecture.

The modular platform is capable for both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations, along with hybrid tech, seen in the 918 Spyder.

Back to the 988, the new mid-engine sportscar is rumoured to use a new quad-turbo flat-eight engine with a 4.0-litre displacement producing around 600bhp, taking on the Ferrari 458 Italia and McLaren 650S.

We still haven’t seen any prototypes on the road, unless they are nicely disguised as 911s. The expected market launch is in 2017 so the development is in quite early stages, meaning we should start seeing full-body prototypes sometimes next year.